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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28404525">summertime</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/paintyourwords/pseuds/paintyourwords'>paintyourwords</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Awkward Semi-Friends to Lovers, Banter, Crushes, Family, Inept Flirting, M/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 16:35:44</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,803</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28404525</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/paintyourwords/pseuds/paintyourwords</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Draco Malfoy is Harry's son's best friend's dad, and there needs to be nothing special about the twenty times a week he sees the man when he comes to collect his son from Harry's doorstep.</p><p>And if he suggests that Teddy might benefit from meeting his estranged first cousin, once removed, well, that's entirely for the good of his godson. No ulterior motives. At all.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>summertime</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>“<em>Don’t </em>call me Albus,” he said, wrinkling his nose. “It’s Al.”</p><p>An inexplicable expression passed over Andromeda’s face. “Oh. Of course.” Her voice sounded strange, as if it were trying very hard to hold back a good number of emotions she did not want released.</p><p>“Al.” He repeated firmly. “Everybody’s calls me that anyway.”</p><p>“Why would that be?”</p><p>Al looked incredulous. “You really have to ask? Albus is a rubbish name, and it's not like I can go by <em>Severus </em>either.”</p><p>“Both those men were highly respected. Your father named you after them because he admires them.”</p><p>“Yeah, well. That’s also kind of a problem, isn’t it. Everyone knows Albus Dumbledore, and Severus Snape, all about them, the good <em>and </em>the bad. No-one’s going to hear me say Albus and see <em>me, </em>they’ll just think of some dead guy.”</p><p>Andromeda looked slightly alarmed at Al’s offhand remark. “I - well, I suppose.”</p><p>“And it’s different for James and Lily, isn’t it, they’re named after our grandparents, which is an entirely regular thing to do. Not to mention, James, and Lily, they're <em>normal </em>names, there are a billion other Jameses and Lilys, so its not always the image of a two hundred year old wizard that comes to mind, is it.”</p><p>“I don’t think Dumbledore quite reached the age of two hundred.” Al gave Andromeda a look so strong that only a twelve year old could have gotten away with it. She smiled, amusement setting in over the lurches and surprise. “My daughter - Teddy’s mother, of course - despised her name similarly. Refused to let anyone call her by it. Not that it stopped me or Ted.”</p><p>Al frowned, trying to recall Teddy’s mother’s name. His dad had always called her, ‘your mother,’ when talking to Teddy about her, or Tonks, when reminiscing with some old friend or another. He’d never stopped to consider the peculiarity that his dad might have called Teddy’s mother by her last name, figured it was something of a fixture in the way he never called Scorpius’ dad anything but <em>Malfoy.</em> </p><p>Andromeda must have seen the lost look on Al’s face so she added, “Her name was Nymphadora.”</p><p>Al made an ‘o’ with his mouth before twisting the expression into something more akin to polite befuddlement. He could understand exactly why <em>Nymphadora </em>might have refused the name, if she had been anything like Teddy. It was almost worse than <em>Albus</em>. At least <em>Nymphadora </em>didn’t have expectations of the greatest wizard to have lived thrust upon it. He was trying to find something nice to say to Andromeda, that wouldn’t be insulting both her terrible naming capabilities and her dead daughter, but was saved from whatever awkwardness he would have spouted by the voices coming into ear shot from just beyond the screen door.</p><p>“No. <em>No.</em>” Teddy’s muffled voice became clearer as he slid the glass doors aside and huffed over to where Andromeda and Al were seated at the garden table. “Oh, Al, thank god, my favourite pseudo-brother -“</p><p>“You only say that when you need something from me,” Al interjected.</p><p>“- I need you to tell your father that he is absolutely off his rocker.”</p><p>“Trust me, I’ve tried,” Al said morosely, flashing his dad a cheeky grin as he shuffled after Teddy and took the fourth seat at the table. </p><p>“Well, thanks Al, my favourite son.”</p><p>“You only say that when James isn’t there, and you don’t have to choose.”</p><p>“That’s because I would never choose.” Harry grinned at him and reached over to unsuccessfully ruffle Al’s hair, Al dodging his dad with practiced skill. His hair really did not need help looking any worse than it usually did, thanks to his dad’s atrocious Potter hair genes. “Anyway, <em>Teddy, </em>it’d be good!”</p><p>Teddy rotated to face Al, ignoring Harry’s focus on him. “Al, please, you may be able to communicate with him, he did birth you after all, <em>please </em>just tell him in a way that he understands that he is mad.”</p><p>“What,” said Al, leaning back to observe the dynamic, “am I trying to convince is mad. Because everyone already knows Dad is mad in his own right, even Aunt Luna can attest to that.”</p><p>Teddy shook his head and leaned forward to pour himself some tea from the pot laid out on the table. “Tell him, then.”</p><p>Harry raised his shoulders in a non-committal shrug. “It’s not even that bad. I just said that Teddy might like to meet Malfoy.”</p><p>Al squinted up at his father. “I’m assuming you don’t mean Scorp. And I guess you call his dad <em>Malfoy. </em>Which is weird, but. Why do you want Teddy’s to meet Scorp’s dad?”</p><p>Teddy gestured pointedly at Al’s words, taking an indignant sip of his tea, but they seemed to do the opposite to Harry who spoke with a resumed enthusiasm. “See! Al’s friends with Scorpious, it’s not that weird to meet him.”</p><p>“And do you arrange playdates for all your kids with each other’s best friend’s parents?”</p><p>Harry shoved the spike of pleasure he got at Teddy including himself as one of Harry’s kids to the back of his mind for later pondering, barging on with his mission. “He’s, well, your <em>family</em>. In a way, right?”</p><p>“Technically, but -"</p><p>Harry continued quickly, speaking fast in almost a hope that the others wouldn’t fully hear him. “I figured you might like to meet him, because having any family is nice, really.” He ignored the pressure on his heart, because he knew certainly well that if <em>he’d </em>had any family left, however distant, he’d be desperate to meet them.</p><p>Teddy rolled his eyes. “Harry, I know you mean the best, but I really don’t know why I need to meet some first cousin once removed. I have enough family to keep track of as it is, with the billion Weasley cousins.”</p><p>“And Potter cousins.” Al interjected.</p><p>“Yes, you might matter too.”</p><p>“Not that Victoire’s much of a cousin is she.” asked Al, eyeing Teddy with derision.</p><p>Harry was squinting at Teddy. “First cousin, once removed. You’ve definitely thought about it then.”</p><p>Teddy snorted but his cheeks had gone a faint pink and once he’d felt the heat in his face, it was hard to stop the whole thing from turning a solid shade of bubblegum.</p><p>Harry clapped his hands together. “Alright, then! It’s settled, I’ll let Malfoy know, we can set something up.”</p><p>Teddy leaned forward, furiously trying to return his face to something resembling close to normal. “‘It’s obvious that you’re set on doing this anyway, regardless of what I say, so I’ll accept it because I have no choice.”</p><p>Harry scoffed, “You know perfectly well you always have a choice.”</p><p>Ignoring Harry, because Teddy did know, Harry had made sure of it, he went on, “What I want to know is <em>why</em> you’re so intent on it.” Teddy leaned back with a glint in his eye. “Since when did you even start <em>thinking</em> about someone as random as Draco Malfoy?”</p><p>“I’m sure they have loads in common. Like naming their children stupid things.”</p><p>“It’s hard not to think of the man when he insists on personally delivering Scorpius to our house every single time he comes around,” Harry grumbled. “And Malfoy’s not <em>random</em>, we went to school together.”</p><p>Teddy clearly did not think this meant as much as Harry thought it did. It was hard to convey how much of a presence, whatever <em>kind </em>of presence that may have been, Malfoy had been for a solid six or seven years of his life. Harry briefly pondered on the fleeting nature of experience and how his childhood had flown by so quickly and thoroughly. Teddy thought of other things. “I’m just saying, you seem a bit <em>too</em> eager to form deep personal connections with Draco Malfoy.” Teddy took a pointed sip of his tea.</p><p>Al groaned and dropped his head into his hands. “Teddy, please don’t insinuate that my dad wants to hook up with Scorp’s dad, <em>please</em>, at least, not in front of me.”</p><p>Harry was gaping at Teddy. Bloody Marauder kids. Had <em>he</em> been like this at twenty? “First of all, Teddy, that’s a completely unreasonable conclusion to jump to, <em>second of all -</em> Al, shut your ears - I do not want to ‘hook up’ with Malfoy.” Harry paused, frowning at Al. “Why do you know anything about ‘hooking up’, anyway, you’re twelve.”</p><p>Al rolled his eyes. “Yeah, exactly, Dad, I’m <em>twelve.</em>”</p><p>Harry pointed at his son. “You, stop thinking about hooking up.” He pointed next at Teddy, “You, stop <em>thinking.</em>”</p><p>“I’n not <em>thinking</em> of hooking up, I’m just saying I’m old enough to know what it is.”</p><p>“You’re definitely not old enough.”</p><p>“<em>Anyway</em>, Al, stop thinking of hooking up, there’s plenty of time left when you’re older -“</p><p>“I swear to god.”</p><p>“Do you really think I don’t notice that every time Al announces that Scorpious is coming round, you don’t get all stiff and weird?”</p><p>“I said we went to school together, we never had a good relationship. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that every interaction I had with Malfoy over six years was disastrous. It’s hard to immediately ignore all that.”</p><p>“<em>See</em>, that’s another thing. Why do you call him <em>Malfoy</em>? It feels a bit weird, doesn’t it, calling him Malfoy, when he’s the father of your son’s best friend?”</p><p>“It’s just what I call him. It’s what we’ve always called him.” Harry was very much on the defensive now, and it stunned him that it had been Al and not Teddy who’d ended up in Slytherin. </p><p>“Anything else from the past along with that name that you just can’t seem to let go of?” Teddy had a satisfied smile on his face, and Harry was convinced that Remus had somehow managed to pass on a bit of Sirius’ soul into his son. </p><p>Al was surveying Harry with consideration too now. “You know, Teddy’s starting to get to me, you two are definitely so <em>awkward</em> around each other.”</p><p>Heathens. All his children were heathens, Harry decided. “I - I don’t have to stand and listen to these <em>conspiracies</em>, completely unfounded, mind you -“</p><p>Andromeda set her mug down hard onto the table. The boys jumped. She’d been so quiet, they’d nearly forgotten she was there. “Teddy, I think it’s a good idea. You should meet your family. I will also come. Let Narcissa know to also be there. I think I’d like to see her.” She’d looked straight at Harry when she said this, but with that, she stood from the table and walked back to the sliding glass doors, and then through it, without another word.</p><p>“Well.” Teddy frowned after his grandmother.</p><p>Harry groaned and threw his head back. “I’m an idiot.”</p><p>Al was looking around at each of them, confused. “What just happened.”</p><p> </p>
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